Warning message

‘Say bye to buy local,’ the second stop on an eight-city speaking tour featuring Council of Canadians National Chair Maude Barlow and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario President Sid Ryan, arrived in Kitchener this evening.

Before an audience at the Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work building, Ryan and Barlow revealed how several interprovincial and international trade deals, currently being negotiated behind closed doors, are threatening local economies, communities, jobs and the environment.

“Ontarians have a right to discuss and debate these agreements, and to have the power to modify, expand or cancel them if they’re not in the province’s interests,” Barlow told those in attendance.

The impact of these internal and international agreements, she warned, will be broad and often incompatible with social goods, such as stimulating local economies, maintaining a universal and publicly-funded health care system, and protecting the environment.

“As Ontarians, we are all affected—when our elected politicians lose their ability to make the best decisions—we all lose,” said Ryan.

The speaking tour will proceed tomorrow to Toronto, then move on to Sudbury, Windsor, Kingston, London and Hamilton.